A Real Painter

My secret wish is to be a painter.  Just FYI.
 
Me and two of my friends from church just completed a two-part oil painting class.  We had been talking off and on about doing something creative together so when Sarah found this class, I was super excited.  She found the class through Leisure Learning and it was taught by Lynn Chatman.  Lynn was a great teacher . . . . super nice, patient and willing to help each person individually.

The first day of class, we worked on setting up our painting.  We determined the spacing of what we were going to paint.  We painted the background of the sky, the grass, and the shading of the tree.  I made a joke with the teacher, I'm a chronic blender.  I couldn't seem to make any detail on the painting without feeling the need to blend it in.  Hi, my name is Stefanie and I'm a chronic blender. . .

I was pretty happy with the end result of my first day but I was a little nervous about the tree and the hill at the bottom was too orange for me.

The second day of class, we focused on adding the details.  I struggled with the texturing of the grass (again, I'm a blender) but I think I finally figured it out with help from Lynn.  The tree was also a challenge.  At first, I wanted to blend the leaves (I know!), but then I just decided to follow the teachers advice and just put dabs of paint on the tree.  The detail of the branches was also a little difficult but I think I got it down.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my painting.  There are a few things I'd change, but I like it.  If I had kept going until I thought it was perfect I would still be there right now.  I can go overboard when I am trying to make an art project turn out the way I want it. . . ask my mom. 

I absolutely would love to take another painting class.  I had so much fun and I really enjoyed learning some of the techniques to adding shading and texture to a painting.  I practice painting some on my own but I never knew how to approach something like a landscape.

Who knows, maybe I will become a real painter one day.  :)